A. Technical Field
In general, the present invention relates to interacting with documents, and more particularly to undocking sections from HTML (hypertext markup language) documents.
B. Background of the Invention
The Internet has experienced tremendous growth. Through various HTML programming techniques (including tables and frames, for example), information may be presented to end users in visually appealing forms. However, one of the difficulties with these presentation techniques is that, once the table or form is coded, the end user has little ability by which to interact with the presented information. For instance, if a user is viewing an article in a frame as displayed in a browser (for example, Internet Explorer (IE) 4.0 by the Microsoft(copyright) Corporation or Netscape Navigator (NN) 4.0 by the Netscape Corporation), the user may scroll up or down the article. However, the user cannot read the article once the browser is closed. Further, the article cannot be moved apart from the window supported by the browser. The viewing interactivity experienced by the end user remains at a low level.
The ability to undock one display window from another allows a user to separate the two windows. However, current undocking solutions fail to provide an end user with freedom to navigate beyond the displayed windows. At least one Internet video-conferencing application (i.e., NetMeeting(trademark)) provides the ability to undock viewing windows. However, these xe2x80x9cundockedxe2x80x9d windows, while independently positionable, remain part of the parent video-conferencing application. Closing the parent video-conferencing application also closes the undocked windows.
Further, current separable windows in browsers fail to provide any sort of docking. In the current version of browsers (IE 4.0 or NN 4.0), instead of navigating to a new window with the current instance of the browser, an end user may open a new browser window and navigate it separately from the original instance of the browser. However, the user is always aware of the two separate instances of the browser. There is no ability to dock the two windows together to provide a browser window that is unified in appearance and navigation. Also, the two windows effectively remain independent of each other. In this regard, navigation of the first window does not effect the content of the second window. Current browsers do not allow incorporated content to be undocked from a main application.
In short, while providing simple textual markups and related display characteristics, HTML is limited in that it fails to provide application designers with a complex design language for applications. The current state of browsers or the HTML language itself fails to provide the needed underlying framework for these applications. While e-mail clients and NetMeeting(trademark) incorporate a limited ability to undock windows from each other, a developer familiar only with HTML is prevented from providing even this limited functionality to a web page or an HTML document.
In order to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above, the disclosed invention allows a user a greater amount of interactivity with displayed information. For example, the user may undock a desired portion from a parent window and manipulate the undocked desired portion apart from the parent window. Further, the undocked window may exist on its own after closing the parent application.
Controls, as used by the invention, may include Java-based scripts (developed by Sun Microsystems) and ActiveX(copyright) controls (developed by Microsoft(copyright) Corporation of Redmond, Wash.). ActiveX(copyright) controls are a popular and effective way of encapsulating functionality and distributing this functionality across a variety of platforms. Unlike Java applets and certain plug-ins, ActiveX(copyright) controls may be written in any number of programming languages. ActiveX(copyright) controls, based on OLE controls or OCX controls, are components (or objects) which can be inserted into a web page or other application to reuse packaged functionality that someone else programmed. For example, Microsoft""s Internet Explorer 3.0 contains ActiveX(copyright) controls that allow users to enhance web pages with sophisticated formatting features and animation. ActiveX(copyright) controls are an enhancement over Java applets and certain web browser plug-ins since ActiveX(copyright) controls may also be used in applications written in any number of programming languages. Web authors may also write their own ActiveX(copyright) controls using Visual Basic 5.0 or Visual C++ and an ActiveX(copyright) control framework such as Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC), the ActiveX(copyright) Template Library (ATL), or the BaseClt framework. ActiveX(copyright) controls are designated within a web page by use of a standard HTML  less than OBJECT greater than  tag. Typically, object tags include a set of parameters that include name value pairs, which are the persistence information of the control. The object tag includes a set of parameters that specify which control should be used and control the appearance and behavior of the control.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to a control placed on a web page that supports contained text (or images or other data) in which a displayed window containing the text may be undocked from the displayed page. The undocked window (that is, the sub-content window) may to remain open after a user closes the browser. In an alternative embodiment, the undocked window may close with the parent application. Various applications of the invention relate to how an undocked window is re-docked to the web page including the handling of updates to the information contained in the window. Also, the invention may be applied to support information being ported from one application to another.
Applied to a browser platform, portions of an HTML document may be encapsulated by a script-based control according to the invention. For instance, the script-based control may be an ActiveX(copyright) Control (by the Microsoft(copyright) Corporation) similar to an IFRAME. The control then allows the user to xe2x80x9cundockxe2x80x9d a selected portion from a main content window (e.g., a browser window). The selected portion would then appear in a separate window that can be positioned and viewed independent of the original content window. In the browser example, the user can then navigate the browser away from the original document without affecting the undocked subcontent window. A further implementation of the invention allows the browser application to even be closed while leaving the undocked sub-content window open.
The invention includes aspects related to user interfaces for providing the user with an environment for undocking and docking sub-content windows, data structures for supporting the claims, (relating to the data structure as including different controls), system and method claims (relating to the support of the windows and coordination of events between the different windows), and computer-readable medium claims (related to a program for creating the undockable windows and for handling the windows once created).
These and other novel advantages, details, embodiments, features and objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from following the detailed description of the invention, the attached claims and accompanying drawings, listed herein, which are useful in explaining the invention.